The Rise of Social Media Screening by Companies

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If you are still under the impression that your social networking
profiles will remain unscreened during the hiring process, there
are some stats that will change your mind. According to an
infographic provided by Reppler, “more than 90
percent of recruiters and hiring managers have visited a
potential candidate’s profile on a social network as part of the
screening process.” This statistic is a result of a study that
surveyed over 300 hiring professionals.

Not only have 90 percent of these people visited a candidate’s
social network profile, but 69 percent of them have also rejected
a candidate because of what they found on that individual’s
profile. However, you must not get discouraged; your social
networking profiles CAN benefit you. Almost 68 percent of
recruiters have made the decision to hire after viewing a job
candidate’s social profile.

A social networking profile can give recruiters a more accurate
image of the job candidate and their personality. Keeping your
social media networking profiles clean and professional is not a
difficult task. Take a look at all of your social media accounts
and get rid of anything that you or any recruiter might consider
unprofessional. Scan through everything you are connected with on
the Internet, including but not limited to: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter.

The percentage of recruiters screening social networking profiles
before making the decision to hire is only going up. Protect
yourself and your career by only displaying work-appropriate
content on your profiles. Make sure to take it one step further
and limit your conversations to either professional or
non-controversial subjects.

Have your social networking profiles ever helped you land a
new job opportunity?

Mona Abdel-Halim is the co-founder of
Resunate.com, the world’s only search engine
optimizing resume builder. You can find Mona and Resunate on
Facebook and Twitter